


The show must go on

by allofmystudensrunaway



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Canon, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Archangel Gabriel (Supernatural), Character Death Fix, Fix-It, Gen, Implied/Referenced Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-08
Updated: 2018-10-14
Packaged: 2019-07-08 14:28:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15932345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allofmystudensrunaway/pseuds/allofmystudensrunaway
Summary: Gabriel ain't dead.





	1. Chapter 1

“Why should I trust you?” Michael asked narrowing his eyes suspiciously.  
“I saw how they do the spell, I know what it takes. it’s some blood, some fruit and a glowy rock. Bam! we step through, both of us”  
“Then?” Michael looked interested.  
“Then I get my son and you get-”  
“Everything else” Michael interjected, thunder rolled in this distance “are we agreed?” Lucifer hesitated for a moment before nodding.  
“Seems only fair, it’s a deal,” Lucifer held out his hand. Michael stared at him with distrust, but shook his hand anyway.  
“Don’t mess with me Lu, cause I will kill ya.”  
“Wouldn’t expect any thing else from you Mikey” Lucifer shrugged and smiled.“So lets get this party started! Where do we get grace from, I’m a little low and I guess you won’t be giving up any for the cause.” Michael just grinned and sauntered over to Gabriel’s corpse.  
“I know you’re not dead little brother,” he leaned down to look into the sightless eyes and shook the body fiercely.  
“I think you got him” Michael straightened up and glared at Lucifer “I’m sorry just saying,” the devil held his hands up in apology. “Mea culpa.”  
“Shut up Lu, Gabriel don’t die easy.” Michael turned in a circle eyes scanning the woods, “Where you at, little bro?” the arch angel stiffened and smiled to himself, “Oh there you are.” Michael dashed across the clearing and dragged Gabriel out from behind his tree. “Told ya Lu, Gabriel ain’t gonna die for some humans, ain’t that right.” Michael shook him like a rag doll. It hurt, Gabe concentrated on not crying out. Michael hauled him upright by his shirt front and gave him a cursory look. “Ah not enough grace left to escape, but enough to try and fool me. So predictable!”  
“Screw you, Michael!” Gabriel spat at him, bravado he told himself. He was terrified, should have gone through the rift you moron. He had wanted to be sure Michael dealt with Lucifer, for his friends sake, for humanities sake. Now though, he had a sneaking suspicion he may have just made things worse. Michael yanked him closer so they were nose to nose, Gabriel was forced to look into his brothers eyes and all he saw there was madness. Oh my dad, you are fruit loops, his own Michael had been weird; this one was completely nuts.  
“Yeah he is low on grace, but give him a day or two and he will have enough juice for our purposes.” Michael threw him at Lucifer who caught him by the throat and squeezed, Gabe clawed at the iron grip.  
“And then we get my son.” Lucifer’s grip tightened, Gabe was gasping for air.  
“Put him down Lu, he ain’t no use to us dead” Lucifer dropped him, Gabriel made a half-hearted attempt to scrabble away from them, only to be stopped by Michael’s hand on his shoulder.  
“You two are assholes” he managed to snarl.  
“There’s no need for name calling baby bro. If you hadn’t betrayed me. None of this would have happened” Lucifer seemed genuinely sorry, Gabe wasn’t fooled though.  
“As I told you before Lucy, you are a big bag of dicks.”  
“Enough of this.” Michael growled, “we gotta get moving, lets pop upstairs. My prophet may be dead, but there is someone else I can get to do the spell.”  
“What about the ingredients? The Winchester boys and asstiel had some trouble finding them” Lucifer sounded doubtful. Michael laughed.  
“Oh Lu, you’re forgetting I rule here, I won. There ain’t nothing on this earth my armies can’t find. Now lets go, I have a feeling Gabriel here is going to love his new room mate.”

Heavens jail, he had been here before of course, but never on the wrong side of the bars. As for his cell mate, he hadn’t said a word. Gabe couldn’t even see him/her buried as they were under a pile of blankets and his efforts at starting a conversation had come to naught. Gabriel stood up and walked around the perimeter of the cell, he could feel his grace was returning. In fact it was recharging much faster than it had at home, he wondered why that was and decided that it didn’t matter. The faster it came back, the sooner his brothers would drain him and everybody he cared about would die. And I do care about them, he could admit that in the privacy of his own head. Sam, Dean, Jack and Cas, his friends, his real family. He wondered what they were doing, wondered if they even knew what they meant to him, well I guess I’ll never have chance to tell them now.  
He let out a slow breath through gritted teeth and made himself examine the warding on the cells walls and bars. Experimentally he gripped them and threw his pathetic grace against the warding; he woke up a few seconds later slumped against the rear wall his head ringing.  
“That won’t work.” A weary voice whispered from the heap of blankets.  
“Oh so you can speak,” Gabe got up and dusted himself down. “I should have gone back to Monte Carlo” he muttered to himself. The blankets moved as his cell mate sat up, revealing a familiar bearded face. “Oh it’s you, what are you doing in here. Thought you would be right up Michael’s ass, you weasel.”  
“Rude!” Metatron stood up, Gabe smothered a laugh.  
“Why are you wearing that?” he gestured to the rather ornate beaded tunic, with its thunderbird design. Metatron glanced down at himself as if he had forgotten what he looked like.  
“If you must know, when God left, I ran away to Meso-America.”  
“So what happened?”  
“Michael caught me, obviously!” The scribe sat back down and wrapped a blanket round himself.  
“So what you just been sat in here for the last couple of millennia! Do you even know what Michael has done to this earth!”Gabe took a step forward, Metatron cowered.  
“you can talk, I wasn’t the only one who ran away” Metatron paused, looking up at him there was a calculating look in that tired blue gaze. “but you are not from here are you, you’re from that other place”  
“How do you know?”  
“Angel radio, I can still hear it.”  
“So you know what my dick brother is up to, will you help me?”  
“No” Metatron looked away, Gabe could sense his shame. “In case you haven’t noticed, God is gone and your dick brother won. You can’t fight him, no one can.”  
“and I thought I was a coward.”  
“You try a couple of millennia of torture, before you judge me” Metatron snarled. Gabe took a step back, realising that Michael wasn’t the only angel with sanity issues in the area.  
“You been helping him?”  
“Everyone has their breaking point Gabriel, even you.” Gabe didn’t answer that, it brought back too many unpleasant memories. For a brief second he remembered the agony of Asmodeus sucking his grace from his vessel, he crushed the memory. Not again, never again, he would find some way to win. I’m going home, he told himself.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> brothers are assbutts, and au ones are worse.

The passage of time wasn’t something easily measured in heaven, all Gabe knew was that he had been sat staring at the walls of his cell for what felt like a small eternity. Metatron had lapsed into silence, when his lame attempts at conversation had failed to get a response. Occasionally the former scribe of god would let out a huff of annoyance, grating on Gabe’s already raw nerves. He shifted, straightened his back and glared at his cell mate.  
“So what exactly does my dick brother need you for?” The question made Metatron chuckle.  
“That would be telling wouldn’t it,” he shrugged. Gabe felt his jaw clench, he had forgotten what an odious little prick the scribe could be.  
“You know, I don’t suppose Dad will be too happy with you teaming up with Michael.”  
“Well Daddy isn’t here!” Metatron’s voice was sharp, but Gabe heard the underlying fear in it and had to repress a grin.  
“well you never know, he may come back and when he sees the state of things; all those dead humans. I know my old man and he is going to be pissed”  
“Shut up!”   
“And you, his right hand angel, just let it all happen!” Gabe let the grin crawl across his face as he stared into Metatron’s furious eyes.   
“I said shut up!” Metatron cast his blankets aside and surged across the floor until he was nose to nose with him. Gabe leaned back, Metatron up close was not an appealing sight.  
“he took an interest in you, gave you power and how do you repay him? The second he pops out for some smokes, you crawl up Michaels ass.” Gabe raised his eyebrow and snorted, “Buddy you are pathetic.”  
“That is not what happened,” Metatron muttered and turned away avoiding his eyes. Gabe pushed himself to his feet and patted him on the back.  
“Course not and I am sure once you explain it will all be puppies and strippers again,” he paused pretending to think, knowing he had Metatron by the short and curlys now. “Probably, I mean Dad can be a bit vengeful, quick to judge even. But I am sure if you explain what an utter coward you are, he might forgive you.” The gaze Metatron turned on him was gratifyingly terrified.  
“What was I supposed to do? Michael is insane. You were dead, he killed Raphael right there in the throne room and I did try to run.” The scribe was shaking, Gabe plastered a sympathetic smile on his face and gripped him by his trembling shoulders.  
“It’s okay Metatron, I’m back now and you and me, we are going to make this right alright bucko?” Too frightened to speak, the Scribe just nodded. “There’s a good boy. Now tell me, why does Michael need you?”

“Hello baby bro, enjoying your vacation” Lucifer leaning nonchalantly against the bars of Gabriel’s prison, with Michael and a couple of guards a step or two behind him. The warding glowed fiery red against Lucifer’s sleeve, his brother seemed to not notice, instead he just grinned.  
“Ahh Lucy, witty as ever.”  
“Time to do your part for the greater glory of heaven, Gabriel” Michael intoned piously, Gabe rolled his eyes, he couldn’t stop himself.  
“oh brother, you are about one military parade away from invading Poland.” Michael made a grab for him through the bars, Lucifer held him back.  
“Mikey, we need his grace to open the door, remember.” Gabe wandered how Michael missed the contempt in Lucy’s voice, his brother sounded like he was talking to a spoiled kid. Which to be fair, he was.   
“Yeah, I know” same old Michael, stab first ask questions later, Gabriel wondered if some where in the multiverse there was a place where his brothers were not a bunch of douchebags, he highly doubted it. “You there scribe” Michael growled, Metatron scuttled over and knelt down by the bars.  
“Yes, Michael?”  
“Gabriel’s grace is it sufficiently recharged?”  
“Yes Sir, he is still weak, but there is enough for our purposes.”   
“Good” Michael wrenched the cell door open and gestured for them both to get out. “Now little bro, you gonna behave or should I have you shackled?”  
“You know me Michael, you asshole, I never behave” there was a crunch as Gabe’s skull connected with Michaels nose. He staggered backwards pain blossoming across his temples, worth it though to see blood dripping down Michaels enraged face. “chain him up!” Michael screamed at the two guards, they moved quickly slapping angel cuffs around his wrists and ankles.  
“Ohh careful sister, I like it rough” he sniggered, as the room span gently. He had a glimpse of a face he recognised and frightened pair of blue eyes. “Hannah?”  
“Shut up trickster!” his skull rang as she slapped him and the world spun a little faster. But he had still seen it, she was terrified as was the other guard. He could smell it now, cloying fear overlying everything, he knew that sort of terror, knew it intimately. It was normalised terror, the sort that you lived with everyday until it became an ingrained part of your existence and it was all you could do to just survive. He stared at his brother with renewed loathing, Michael had turned heaven into hell and the psychotic idiot thought he was doing their Father’s work.  
“I’m going to fix this,” he whispered to Hannah, as she dragged him along in Michael and Lucifer’s wake. Heavens bright white corridors were full of angels that drew back and stood to attention stiffly as they passed and everywhere Gabriel smelt the fear, it made him feel sick. They stopped outside a door labelled 42, heavens gate, the portal back to earth.  
“It’s not broken Gabriel” she whispered and shoved him through the door.

“Nice place,” Gabe muttered looking around the broken down church with it’s shattered crucifix and mouldy walls. Hannah redoubled her grip and shook him into silence.  
“Always the class clown, hey Gabe.” Lucifer sauntered over and leaned in close, “sorry bro, but needs must and all that. No hard feelings”  
“Jack hates you.” Gabe told him with a smile, Lucifer’s face fell and he walked away shaking his head.  
“so lets get this show on the road, Scribe, do your duty” Michael barked , Gabe shrugged and bared his neck as Metatron approached with an angel blade.   
“Do it then, you piece of shit” he gasped as the knife snicked at his neck. He suppressed a shudder of nausea that the sensation of his grace once again being ripped from him produced. He caught Metatron’s eye and saw the briefest of winks and a conspiratorial smile as the scribe healed the cut with a touch. Gabe sagged theatrically in Hannah’s grip, he watched as metatron placed the glowing bowl on the altar of the ruined church.  
“He was weak, there is enough for this trip.” Metatron told Michael, the archangel nodded.  
“As expected, he will be strong enough again in a few days, then my army can join me. Hannah, keep my brother safe till then”  
“Yes Commander.”  
“Get on with it Metatron” Michael turned to Lucifer, “Are you ready brother?”  
“Yeah, lets go get my boy”  
“And my kingdom.” Michael added, Gabe was dragged away to the far corner.   
“Koth Munto notox” Metatron intoned, the bowl of grace flared like a supernova “Koth Munto notox!” he repeated and held up the seal of Solomon, a beam of light sprang up and there was a sensation, like nails across a chalk board as it tore a hole in the fabric of reality. Michael and Lucifer stepped into the light together, vanishing.   
“Notox Munto Koth!” Metatron shouted, the bowl clanged as he threw it on the floor, the rip wavered, shrank and disappeared.   
“treachery!”Hannah dropped Gabriel and rushed Metatron, her angel blade flashed as she buried it in the scribes chest, light flooded the room as his grace bled away.   
“Stop little sister” Gabe said softly, he stood up straight, Hannah’s eyes widened as Gabe melted the angel cuffs from his limbs. He smiled and took a couple of steps forward. “I’m feeling a lot better” he winked at her and plucked the angel blade from her grasp.  
“Are you going to kill me?”  
“no I told you, we are going to fix things. You with me kiddo?”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gabe makes a run for it, confronting some old memories..and meets someone no-one was expecting.

Hannah stared at him open mouthed, she was still scared. “It’s going to be okay” Gabriel did his best to sound reassuring, but his little sister was backing away her hands held in front of her.  
“You are supposed to be powerless”  
“Yeah I know, I lied” Gabriel picked the angel tablet up off the altar weighing it in his hand, he looked down at Metatron for a second. “Well technically he lied, not such a weasel after all.” he stooped down and closed the dead scribe’s eyes, “Dad would be proud of you buddy.” he pocketed the seal of Solomon, an unused vial of blood and stuffed the remaining fruit of life in his inside pocket. It ruined the line of his leather jacket, he sighed and turned to Hannah. “You wouldn’t happen to have a bag would you? A knapsack or something?”  
“I could get one, maybe” she didn’t move, her eyes were wide and fixed on his every move.  
“What’s wrong?” he held out his hands, trying not to sound impatient.  
“Why haven’t you killed me?”  
“Why would I kill you Hannah?”  
“Because I was working for Michael, because I killed Metatron.”  
“Well to be fair, most people who met him wanted to kill him. He was that sort of person.” Gabriel shrugged, “Now are you coming or not?”  
“Coming where?”  
“With me, are all the angels over here as slow as you?”  
“I can’t Michael will kill me” Hannah actually looked round, as if expecting his douchebag brother to appear, utter cowed terror. Gabe took her by the shoulders, realisation dawning.  
“What did my brother do to you?” Hannah shook her head desperately and looked away, Gabe caught a glimpse of tears, he pulled her into a hug.”It’s okay, I’m back now, I won’t let him hurt you anymore.”  
“God left us, he killed Raphael, you ran away! Who were we supposed to follow?”  
“Its not your fault.” Gabe held her at arms length and despite the anger and guilt rolling around in his belly, made himself smile. “I’m going to fix things, but we better get out of here. Are you going to come with me?”  
“yes, okay” she smiled nervously at him. Gabe nodded and scooped up a rucksack he had spied in one corner of the room.  
“This will do, not leaving these bad boys here for Michael.” he stuffed the angel tablet into the bag and swung it on his shoulder. “Come on kiddo, lets go” he held out his hand and grinned. “we got a lot of catching up to do, I haven’t seen you since the garden.”

“Can’t we just go back to your world now?” Hannah asked, “its got to be better than here” she held out her hands gesturing not just to the small dark cabin they were hiding in, but to the whole world.  
“I would love that, but until we get some back up. We are staying here”  
“What do you mean back up?” Hannah wandered around, her hands jammed in her pockets and nudged a broken chair with her foot.  
“Well, I haven’t had the best of luck icing my brothers, but” he smiled to himself “with this universe’s angels behind me, unstoppable.”  
“why should we follow you Gabriel? How are you any different to Michael?” there was a challenge in her voice. Gabe was impressed, it must have cost her some courage to speak up.  
“Because it’s me, because you know me”  
“you left us, with him.” Hannah’s voice went up an octave, “You left us with that monster!”  
“I know” Gabriel sat down on a rickety table, so that other him was just as cowardly. ‘well that’s not me anymore’ he reminded himself. “I am sorry Hannah, I really am.” she folded her arms and turned away clearly unconvinced.   
“So you say!”  
“I’m not that guy anymore. I mean I’m not your Gabriel anyway.”  
“You don’t seem that different to me”. She snorted.  
“Okay, do you remember what heaven was like, before everything went to hell, before Dad did his vanishing act?”  
“Sometimes, mostly I try to forget.” she glanced over her shoulder at him, her face was very white in the gloom of the hut.  
“But you do remember?” she did, Gabriel could tell by the way her expression softened. He slide off the table and wandered over smiling his most reassuring smile. “I remember, hell I was there, do you remember the beach?” she was finally looking straight at him, the ghost of a smile tugging at her lips. He wiggled his eyebrows at her “yeah, you remember”  
“Yes, Gabe I remember.”  
“We can have that again, we can be a family again. You, me and the rest of the kids, just like old times.”  
“How?”  
“We kill Michael, or lock him up somewhere, I don’t know yet.” Hannah was quiet, considering his words. Gabriel had to admit that his little sister had grown up a lot, he liked that.  
“Okay, what do we do now?”  
“Well first are there any other angels who will come over to our side without a fight?”  
“Maybe” Hannah retrieved an unbroken chair and perched on it. “A few years ago there was a rebellion, a rebel tried to shut Lucifer back in the cage. Michael was not happy considering how long it took him to spring him in the first place.”  
“Who was this rebel?”  
“An angel called Castiel”  
“Why am I not surprised!” Gabriel shook his head ‘some things never change’. “Well I have bad news little sis, my Cas already killed your Castiel and I am pretty sure he was working for Michael at the time.”  
“Thats because of what Michael did to him, to us” Hannah’s dropped her gaze to her hands, which gripped the edge of the chair. Her knuckles turned white as Gabriel watched and there was a distinct ‘crunch’ as her fingers bit into the wood.  
“What did my douchebag brother do?” Gabriel wasn’t sure he wanted to know.  
"They tortured him for years, reprogrammed him again and again, the whole of heaven could hear him screaming," she paused to rub her eyes, “he was my brother, I loved him,W hy do you think no-one else dared rebel?”  
“I get it, more than you realise” Gabriel hunkered down next to her and squeezed her hand. “I’m sorry about Castiel, your Castiel I mean.”  
“What is your Castiel like?” she asked softly.  
“Well, he’s in love with a human, he adopted Lucifer’s son and he is a massive pain in the ass.”  
“You’re joking of course.”  
“No Hannah, I am not so. Who amongst our dysfunctional family is likely to be in favour of ditching big bro?”  
“Well, there’s Castiel’s flight, everybody said Michael had killed them, but I never thought so. There are a few others who rebelled who might join us, if we can persuade them.”  
“I’m going to need names. For now we should head away from here.” Gabe closed his eyes for a moment, scanning the terrain in his mind. “There is a junk yard I know, we’ll go there.” Hannah nodded and stood up.  
“lead the way”   
“Time to fly” Gabriel grinned at her and unfurled his wings, he got no further than that. A roaring wind burst through the door slamming him against the back wall and pinning him there, like a butterfly on a board. Black smoke filled the doorway and a figure coalesced from the darkness, stepped inside. A trim, compact man wearing a sharp suit, from which he brushed non-existent lint as he approached Gabriel.  
“hello Darlings, My name is Crowley and it must be my lucky day”


End file.
